Recall catching a flight down in the Carolinas long time back with a couple of young fellas, names of Wilbur and Orville, I believe. My memory's a bit foggy, but I know there were no drinks or food serviced, just a small bushel of peanuts strapped to one of the wings.

As alluded to, when some of us started flying, all passenger planes had propellers! DC7s, North Stars, Super Connies... and then came the prop-jets like Viscounts and Vanguards... On the latter two, the first class cabin was at the back of the plane where is was quieter.

Then came the jets, and the next revolution began!

Did fly LAKER a little later in my life, back when they also flew between Toronto and Gatwick. Just as VIRGIN today reflects the hip British present, LAKER was at the forefront of that image in the 60s and early 70s, transporting us to the world of the Beatles, Stones and Carnaby Street. [Austin Powers, anyone? Orange shag carpets?] Remember, Randy's Freddies are name after Sir Freddy Laker, innovator of the air bus, i.e. discounted flying for the masses. US$99 each way across the Atlantic. [What with inflation over the years and much higher fuel and other costs, it is no wonder today's carriers cannot make money flying passengers across the Atlantic to London for US$299, but still keep doing it. In effect, that is even cheaper than Sir Freddy's fare!]

There's a Quebec rock singer from the 70s called Robert Charlebois. He now owns one of that provinces best microbreweries which makes a wicked brew called: Le fin de la monde, or The End of the World [with a 12% alcohol level!]. Anyhow, one of his early hits was a little ditty whose lyrics were almost entirely composed of the names of the world's airlines of the day, virtually every one now defunct. In fact, the song's refrain starts out, somewhat ironically given its recent takeover:

"Ahhh, TransWorld, Nordair, Eastern, Western, pi Pan American. La, la, la..."

TWA = American Airlines
Nordair = Canadian = Air Canada
Eastern = Continental
Western = Delta
Pan Am = United/Delta

And I have FF cards from all these, and more...

Gotta go wipe the drool from my chin now, sonny. Time to catch old Abe Simpson on the telly, too.

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1181103068

Ready for some serious obscurity!?

Wright Airlines flew props out of Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport (a la Meigs Field in Chicago) to Detroit City Airport and a couple of other rotating destinations like Charleston WV, maybe Cincinnati Lunken Airport, etc.

I think the FFPs killed this boutique airline. Probably a little ahead of its time as far as serving non-major airports.

beaubo,

I flew Wright a few times out Burke in the late 70's. I always wondered if it was Wilbur or Orville was in the cockpit.

My company (at that time) was a retail operation and flew store level management to Wayne Co in Detroit for shows and meetings. I had a few interesting trips with them.

There was the time the door fell off twice (not on my plane) and yet my loyal, fellow employees get back on for a third try.

I was on one flight where all the store managers (and DM's and regional manager) were on a flight to Detroit. After sitting down, I turned to my seat mate and mentioned that there were going to be a lot promotions if the plane went down. Turning back, the regional manager was walking down the aisle and heard what I had said. Needless to say, thre was a significant change in travel strategies shortly thereafter.

[This message has been edited by BillMorrow (edited 08-21-2001).]

Bad BAD memories about Proair, which flew out of Detroit City Airport. Was very jazzed with their cheap fares to and from EWR, but WOW, did their service really stink.

In the 80's, there was New York Air, which flew DC-9's into the New York area (EWR and LGA). They were always a Continental entity, but as CO had such a bad rap, it was another entity altogether. They had "Nosh Bags", which were nothing more than an apple and a bagle, but very yummy nonetheless. I had such a great time with them, I booked my parents on them from DTW to BOS, with a connection in EWR. Unfortunately, though, the agent was so infatuated with her boyfriend (on a phonecall), she mismarked their bags, and the bags ended up in Newark. Took a day to get them up to BOS. They quickly became part of Continental, as the shuttle.

TWA international was a fun one too. As a kid, (11 years old), I was on a flight from Zurich to JFK. We had flown over to Europe on the very new 747, introduced just that year, and I was already spoiled. We flew from DTW to JFK on a 727 (I was thoroughly unimpressed), but that 747 was a SIGHT. On the way back it was a 707; being a *****y kid, I was unhappy to be on a narrowbody plane all the way to New York. Just as we cleared Ireland, the pilot came on and announced that we had to land, NOW, and we will be dumping fuel to expedite that. HOW COOL!!!!

Turns out it was a bomb threat. The flight originated out of Tel Aviv, and there were a number of Israeli dignitaries on board. We landed in Shannon, spent at least 6 hours there while the plane was inspected. After that, we reboarded the same plane (I would never do that now), and off to JFK. The cool thing that I remember is that the pilot announced that all cocktails (I was too young to partake) were FREE, have as much as you like, thanks for flying TWA, etc. Sorry for the delay. I opted for a few Cokes.

Since we were incredably late, we missed our connection to DTW. In those days, international calls were unheard of, so the people meeting us in DTW all went home. We ended up spending the night in a HoJO at JFK (my first offical time that I was allowed to stay up that late, saw Johnny Carson for the first time). We were allowed one phone call to the relatives in Ohio to tell them the reason for the delay.

The next day we were sent to LGA for a FIRST CLASS flight over to DTW. I asked my Dad "Hey, why didn't we fly 1st all of the time, this is so nice??". He chuckled, and tried to explain that 1st was a LOT more expensive. I didn't care, and on that one hour flight, we had some really yummy cheese omelletes. Good example of being spoiled at an early age. I still get *****y when I don't get upgraded.

People's Express obviously expanded too fast, contributing to their demise. Their legacy lived on however, with Continental's hub in Newark.

Apparently during the last year or so, the whole operation was pretty chaotic. They didn't have much of a corporate "organization" per se, as it flew in the face of their employee empowerment culture. So this led to numerous oversights.

In fact, just before the inaugural flight of the "Great Pumpkin" to Gatwick, it occured to managment that they didn't have a crew to fly it. They tried buying a qualified crew, but their salaries were too low and management wasn't about to cause internal strife by bringing on higher paid pilots. So they scrambled, and qualified a 727 crew in a 747 simulator (apparently you can be equipment certified this way).

Thus, the first PEX 1/2 Boeing 747--the legendary Braniff "Great Pumpkin"--flew fully loaded to Gatwick piloted by a crew who had never flown a 747 before.

old story.... mom & 2 kids at meal time on any a/l . mom: "eat your food" repeat, repeat, repeat, " think of all the starving children on peoples express!"

I first began flying in the early 70's, when I began to attend college in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The airline of choice (i.e. the only one available) was the 'Ruptured Goose', aka North Central Airlines. While my memories of the flights are vague (hey, I was a child of the 70's-- in Wisconsin), I do remember the airport being a smaller version of a bus station located in a hanger.
At some point, I even think they had direct service to LGA, but the details are 'hazy'. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Does anyone remember having to pay to use the toilets in the ladies room in GSO? They had one "free" stall & I think the others were 10 cents to use? They stall doors were equipped with a slot to accept the dime. I had a friend who flew to Paris in the summer to spend time with her family. I would go along for the ride to the airport. Back then it was a long car ride & of course us kids would have to potty when we got to the airport. We'd always slide under the door to avoid paying.

After sitting on the sidelines of this thread for a few days, I finally feel compelled to add my own accounts to the pool. When I was little, I used to fly Air New England and/or PBA from Hyannis to Boston almost every weekend. The former flew Fockers and Twin Otters (which I have spotted in St. Barth's several times in recent years), while the latter flew Cessna 402s, YS-11s (a 50 seat Japanese turboprop), and DC-3s (PBA had one other plane that I can't quite recall, Martin something perhaps?). Because I flew so often, I usually got to sit in the cockpit of the single pilot airplanes when loads were light. And, on occassions where I was the only passenger, I even got to fly the plane -- quite a treat for an eight-year old.

It's safe to say that my experiences on the hya-bos route, as a child, catalyzed my interest in aviation.

[This message has been edited by moondog (edited 08-27-2001).]

Well I thought I had a few airlines in my memory bank that no one would come up with. Then I read through from post-1 to the end and i see where letiole and mauld both mentioned North Central. So - that one is out the window. While mauld called it "Ruptured Goose", I just called it - BLUE GOOSE (for the blue goose on the tail). Then rptflyer comes along and blows away my Muse Air second secret. Oh well - such is life. How many of you knew that Lamar Muse was the first president of Southwest? Bet you thought it was Herb Kelleher, right?

Someone mentioned TTA (tree top airlines), actually Trans Texas Airlines; another mentions Texas International (TIA), but no one mentions that the lineage is from TTA to TIA to today's Continental Airlines.

Now - how about Central Airlines flying throughout the Great Plaines states, such as Nebraska, the Dakotas, etc. I believe it has the Japanese "flower", the Chrysanthemum (sp) (and my Japanese isn't any better either). Flew them on a Convair a/c from KCI (yes - the "downtown" airport on the banks of the Missouri River) to OMA (Omaha) via Lincoln, NB. Stop in Lincoln was actually the Airforce base there.

Should I say Panagua - are they still in business in South America? Flew them Caracas to SAT via Panama in either a DC-2/3, can't remember which model DC it was.

OK - where did I put that drool cup? Lost it again, I see! Maybe Rudi has it?

dAAvid -

I was a kid in Dallas when Braniff was just about ready to fail. My first 747 flight was a Braniff 30 minute flight (I believe on Big Orange herself) around Dallas and Fort Worth.

I was only 10 or 11, so I don't know what the story behind the flights were, but they were probably a last-ditch effort at getting revenue from all those planes they had ordered and couldn't afford to/get approval to fly.

My Dad used to bring home those bright orange playing cards with international symbols and phrases and all sorts of other neat stuff from Braniff flights. Some people wish they'd kept their baseball cards. These are the things I wish I had kept.

Are you sure this wasn't Texas Air or later than the 60's? Southwest didn't come around until the early 70's.

Nope. I remember when Lamar got ousted and decided he would show them. Too bad for Lamar. I always thought the Muse Air planes were pretty with that simple white script on a blue background contrasting that garish SWA color scheme we all know so well today.

That lineage doesn't tell the whole story. TIA wasn't absorbed into Continental, but TIA actually grew large enough that they bought Continental. The Board of Texas Air simply decided (much like the board of Allegheny Air) that they should retain the less regional name to better compete.

Edited to Fix UBB

[This message has been edited by robb (edited 08-27-2001).]

Anyone remember New York Air? Started out as pretty successful competition to the Eastern Air Shuttle to LaGuardia from Boston and Washington, making a splash by handing out free bagels and cream cheese to its passengers at a time when the Eastern Shuttle handed out squat. Probably single-handedly led to the free coffee, soda and magazines that those shuttles now provide. Unfortunately, NY Air deteriorated badly toward the end, and I believe it ultimately "merged" with Continental, but I believe the word "merge" was used mean that Continental bought a few of the assets and employed maybe a few lucky NY Air personnel, and the rest of New York Air landed in the ash heap of my vague and uncertain memory.

In addition to PSA, Hughes Airwest and AirCal, I remember a flight I took in the early 80's on Pacific Express from OAK to SMF. Between the 1 hr. delay in boarding and the drive up to the airport from my home in Palo Alto, I could have driven myself there in about the same amount of time.